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The March 9, 1999, NSBA School Board News contains articles entitled:
Legislation would cut schools' red tapeLegislation is moving quickly through Congress to give school districts more flexibility to use federal program funds to support innovative school improvement efforts.The Senate is expected to approve by mid-March the Education Flexibility Partnership Act, which would give schools more flexibility over $10 billion in federal funding by permitting states to waive certain federal requirements. The Senate bill (S.280), introduced by Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), would expand to all states the Ed-Flex pilot program now operating in 12 states. A similar bill (H.R.800), introduced by Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) and Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), was approved by the House Education and Workforce Committee March 3. "For too long, Washington has been part of the problem with education, enacting many well-intentioned programs that result in more red tape and regulation," Frist said Feb. 28. Under the Ed-Flex bill, he says, local schools would be freed from the burdens of bureaucracy. In introducing the House bill, Castle said that, while most federal regulations are intended "to help schools attain educational excellence, they actually have the opposite effect. Instead of strengthening teachers' time in the classroom, some regulations end up taking talented teachers away from students so they can fill out paperwork or assess program spending." The legislation has broad bipartisan support in Congress and among the governors. Congressional leaders have put the measure on a fast track to show the public they have moved beyond the impeachment issue. House and Senate leaders want to pass the Ed-Flex measure as a separate bill, but Democrats have offered an amendment on the Senate floor to attach the President's proposal to reduce class sizes by supporting the hiring of an additional 100,000 teachers. NSBA supports the expansion of the Ed-Flex program to all 50 states and the class size reduction amendment. The U.S. Education Department also has proposed an expansion of the Ed-Flex program but would require states to meet more rigid performance criteria. Among the federal programs covered by the bill are Title I, Eisenhower professional development program, drug-free schools, and bilingual education. Eligibility would be contingent upon the state waiving its own regulations on schools while ensuring standards for accountability remain in place. States and school districts would have to comply with the underlying purposes of each program while demonstrating progress and accountability. During the Senate debate, an amendment was approved to strengthen accountability. The key opponent of the Ed-Flex bill is Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.). During the Senate debate on the legislation March 3, he questioned whether Ed-Flex could be used to circumvent rules that require federal funds to benefit low-income students. The National Governors' Association, which strongly supports Ed-Flex, offers the following examples of how some of the states in the demonstration have used their Ed-Flex authority:
The Ed-Flex demonstration has had mixed results, Carlotta Joyner, director of the education and employment issues at the General Accounting Office, said during a Feb. 27 House hearing. NSBA contact: Dan Fuller, (703) 838-6763.
Supreme Court: Schools must serve medical needsThe U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision expected to have major financial consequences for public schools, has held that the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Community School District must provide constant school-day nursing care for a high school sophomore. "We worry that school districts will endure a great strain because of this decision," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. "It takes the focus of schools away from being educators and into being medical service providers." The 7-2 ruling, issued March 3, holds that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires school districts to pay for all services required by a handicapped student to attend school except "medical services" that can be provided only by a physician. While IDEA requires school districts to provide a "free, appropriate public education" and "related services" to students with disabilities, medical services are excluded. In recent years, with the rise of medical technicians and other medical advances, "the gray area between what is commonly known as school nursing services and those services provided by a physician" has grown tremendously, says NSBA General Counsel Julie Underwood. The Supreme Court case involves Garrett Frey, a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic who was paralyzed from the neck down in a motorcycle accident at age 4. His nursing needs, originally met with family insurance, include monitoring ventilator alarms and blood pressure, urinary catheterization, tracheotomy suctioning, periodic body repositioning, and feeding. Cedar Rapids school officials argued that these services are so complicated and expensive, they constitute medical services. They say providing this services will cost the district $30,000 to $40,000 a year. "This case is about whether meaningful access to the public schools will be assured, not the level of education that a school must finance once access is attained," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the majority opinion. He adds that the district "may have legitimate financial concerns" about providing Frey a full-time nurse, but the court's role is to interpret existing law. Justice Clarence Thomas, in a dissenting opinion joined by Anthony M. Kennedy, wrote the decision "blindsides unwary states with fiscal obligations that they could not have anticipated."
ECS study will examine school governanceThe Education Commission of the States (ECS) has launched a major initiative to "take a critical, all-encompassing look at how America's schools are organized and managed."The National Commission on Governing America's Schools will release its final report in November, which the ECS says will include "workable options for educators, policymakers, and the public to consider–options that could dramatically alter the management of schools." "In many states, education reform and governance is in serious turmoil," says Kentucky Gov. Paul E. Patton, chair of the ECS and co-chair of the new commission. "Several states, and some without a lot of forethought and planning, are altering their education governance systems as a reaction to public pressure and criticism." As examples of the changes in governance structures that are occurring, ECS notes that mayors in Chicago and Cleveland have been appointed to run their school systems, charter schools are becoming popular, and publicly funded vouchers are being used in Milwaukee and Cleveland. According to the ECS, "States and districts are often boxed into a corner, making major decisions without evidence of the types of governance structures that are desirable or even possible." At a briefing on the study Feb. 26 following the commission's first meeting, ECS Vice President Kay McClenney says the commission has been divided into four work groups to focus on these governance options: (1) Identification of ways the current governance system can be improved. (2) Decentralization, including site-based management. (3) A "multiple providers" model, in which the governance entity would not operate any schools but would contract with other providers, such as charter schools. (4) A "community education agency or board," similar to the higher education governance concept, in which the board would not provide education services directly but would ensure that the services are provided by others. Under this model, the school board also would deal with private schools and voucher programs. NSBA is "cautiously positive" about the ECS governance initiative, says NSBA Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick. "To the extent that school boards need to be strengthened, we welcome those recommendations. NSBA is looking forward to insights about what school boards are doing effectively. However, the other options about different governance models are bound to raise concerns among school boards." To guide the commission's initial discussion, the ECS released a series of reports about various school governance issues. One of the reports, "Effective School Governance: A Look at Today's Practice and Tomorrow's Promise," was prepared by Resnick and NSBA Deputy Executive Director Harold P. Seamon. It lists what NSBA believes are the key elements of effective school board operations: setting the vision, focusing on student learning and achievement, providing a strategy for success, advocating for education, involving the community, accounting for results, empowering the staff, fulfilling the policymaker's role, collaborating with other agencies, and committing to continuous improvement. The National Commission on Governing America's Schools
Oakland takeover threatened over dispute with superintendentA contentious political battle to oust the superintendent in Oakland, Calif., took a new turn recently when a lawmaker introduced legislation in the state assembly to turn over control of the school district to the city's mayor. The bill would empower Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown to appoint a trustee to oversee reform efforts for the 54,000-student school system. Many details in the bill are yet to be finalized, but the school board would not be removed from office, says a spokesperson for state Sen. Don Perata, the bill's sponsor. However, it remains unclear how much authority the new trustee would have or what limits might be placed on the school board's powers. Perata's proposal takes its inspiration from the experiences of Chicago, where Mayor Richard Daley was given control of the city schools by the Illinois legislature in 1995. The Michigan Senate passed a bill March 2 proposed by Gov. John Engler to give Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer similar authority over the city schools. But the Oakland bill is unique in that it appears, at least to critics of the plan, to be a pressure tactic designed to force the school board to replace Superintendent Carole Quan. Perata has been a frequent critic of the superintendent, and some city officials also have urged that Quan be removed. The school board has condemned the takeover bill, even though some board members want Quan to be replaced. In February, the board unanimously passed a resolution urging critics not to undermine board members' authority over the school district. Some board members are skeptical of the takeover threat. Board member Jean Quan (no relation to the superintendent) says she believes the bill is a political gambit designed to stampede the school board into firing the superintendent. "I don't see how the legislature could move it out," she says, noting that several state lawmakers for the Oakland area told her privately they won't support the bill. The political maneuvering against Quan has sparked counterprotests in favor of the superintendent. Several community residents charge Perata and other elected officials with seeking to earn cheap political points by making a show of demanding better schools at the superintendent's expense. Quan's supporters also argue critics are ignoring the complex problems facing the large urban school system. But Perata and other critics of Quan says they are frustrated by the lack of progress. Oakland students score well below the national average on reading and math tests. Critics also say they doubt that Quan, a longtime veteran of the district, has the political will to tackle the bureaucracy or fire underperforming administrators. The political fight has stoked racial tensions in the city. Some minority leaders have suggested white politicians are targeting the superintendent because she is Asian–or that whites are seeking to retain a measure of political control in the predominantly black community. In December, Perata and school board member Dan Siegel, a critic of Quan, were shouted down by protesters–many yelling racial allegations–at a press conference on the steps of Oakland City Hall. More recently, board member Oscar Wright charged that the dispute is "about white and Jewish control" of the school district. One city council member asked the Human Relations Commission for an investigation of Wright's remarks. Despite such divisiveness, some school board members hope to forge a new relationship with Perata and city officials. Board President Noel Gallo says there is talk about joint meetings between city and school subcommittees on issues of mutual importance, such as how to tackle crime and violence. Board members and Perata also have agreed to meet sometime in the future. And at a recent working meeting, the board agreed to shelve further talk about the superintendent's future until the summer. "There's an opportunity that's arisen here," Gallo says. "We need to get the city and school governments working together. It's not going to be easy . . . politics comes into play. But there's no reason to fight one another."
'Green Schools' reap the rewards of energy conservationInterested in increasing your schools' budgets by thousands of dollars each year without applying for government funds or grant money or holding bake sales? The answer, some local districts have found, lies in cutting energy bills and plowing the savings back to the schools.The Green Schools program, sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy, a national non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., was started four years ago with two goals: to save money for schools and teach students about energy conservation. To achieve these goals, participating schools focus on encouraging behavior changes by school employees and students, such as keeping lights off in unused rooms, says Merrilee Harrigan, senior program manager for the Green Schools program. The program was pilot-tested in the Baldwinsville and Iroquois, N.Y.; Philadelphia; and Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., school districts. The 15 participating schools saved an average of $7,700 per school in one year, reports an evaluation of the program by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Saving energy is important for schools, the alliance reports, because "energy costs tend to be second only to salaries in school budgets, exceeding the costs of supplies and books." Nationally, K-12 schools spend more than $6 billion a year on energy, Harrigan says. "The Department of Energy estimates that at least a quarter of that is energy waste that could be eliminated and invested instead in education." "Over 80 percent of air pollution results from energy use," the alliance notes, "so it is vital that students, the next generation, understand the connection between energy waste and air pollution." "Schools have been notoriously under-retrofitted, compared to other businesses," Harrigan says. There are a lot of barriers to creating "energy-smart schools," she says. School districts often lack the capital to invest in facilities improvements, there is no accountability for individual schools to cut their utility bills, and energy use generally is not visible. At each Green School, a team consisting of three to five teachers, the custodian, an administrator, and sometimes, students plan and coordinate energy conservation activities. What really makes the program worthwhile for schools is that they receive a percentage of the energy savings, Harrigan says. "This gives the school the motivation" to conserve. The Baldwinsville, N.Y., school district saved $18,000 the first year in its three participating schools. Half of that amount went back to the Green Schools teams at each building, which used the funds for computers, software, instructional material on energy, and field trips, says Rick Monaco, director of the district's Facilities and Transportation Office. This year, eight schools are involved. It cost the Baldwinsville school system virtually nothing to participate in the program, although the district carried out projects to retrofit buildings and facilities, such as boilers, to make them more efficient. The Alliance to Save Energy provided resources, the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency provided training to school staff, and the Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. contributed some $40,000 worth of computers and resource materials. Teachers on the energy teams are paid a stipend, because they do the work on their own time. A key element is "behavior modification," he adds. The teams printed stickers with pictures of owls on them and posted them next to light switches to remind people to "be wise about the use of electricity." Some light bulbs were removed from hallway lights. Whenever there were heating or cooling problems, staff learned to contact the custodian right away to have the temperature levels adjusted instead of just keeping doors or windows open. Energy conservation also was integrated into the curriculum, particularly in math and science lessons, Monaco says. Here are some of the ways students at Baldwinsville's Green Schools learned to conserve energy:
At all the schools, custodians led students on a tour of the boiler rooms, and field trips were taken to the Niagara Mohawk Energy Center. Students also brought information to their parents on saving energy at home. And students conducted energy audits at the local library and senior center. "The project really pulled in the whole community," Monaco says. The Seattle school district started with three pilot schools three years ago and added 20 more last year. Seattle's Green Schools program includes water, as well as energy, conservation. All 23 schools cut their energy and water bills by $102,000 in the last calendar year, with 90 percent–$95,000–returned to the schools, reports Dave Broustis, the district's resource conservation specialist. In these schools, the custodians are encouraged to shut off the heating or cooling systems as early as possible, at 3:15 p.m., for example, rather than 5 p.m. Broustis says lighting can take up 70 percent of a schools' electricity consumption. The district found it can save $20,000 a year by turning off the lights in its 250 vending machines, he says, although he notes that Seattle has low energy costs. Turning off a computer and monitor at night and on weekends can save up to $40 per year per computer, he says. The growing number of computers has slowed the rate of conservation, he notes, although electricity usage still is declining. Looking for and repairing plumbing leaks has led to "significant savings" in water usage, Broustis says. Three or four toilets in non-Green schools that were running continuously almost full force for six weeks added an extra $17,000 to the district's water bill. The energy conservation instructional program in Seattle's Green Schools includes lessons on how electricity is generated and used. A four-day program is presented in the middle schools, which also includes information about saving energy at home. While the Pew Charitable Trusts gives the Green Schools program high marks for promoting energy efficiency and engaging students in learning about the significance of energy in their lives, it finds some programs were more successful than others. The Tacoma program floundered, for example, because it lacked a strong commitment from district administrators and school staff. Harrigan says the alliance is expanding the Green Schools program, with new sites planned for Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin, and possibly other states. Contact: Alliance to Save Energy, (202) 857-0666.
Schools and libraries get $1.66 billion in first year e-rate fundingWith the release of the 10th, and final, wave of e-rate commitment letters Feb. 27, total first-year funding for the program has reached $1.66 billion, reports the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC).This commitment "will enable thousands of students and library patrons to leapfrog into the realm of Internet connectivity, which would have otherwise taken years to reach," SLD President Kate Moore said March 1. Susan Tesada, a geography teacher in Fresno, Calif., says now that the e-rate has brought the Internet to Wawona Middle School, "we're not limited any more to the few books we have in the library. We have the world." Her students, many of whom are poor and limited English speakers, "can see places they've never been able to see before." They're using the Internet to study the night sky and the migration of the monarch butterflies, she says. They come in before school and during lunch to see a live Web camera from an observatory in Hawaii. "Every day is a true adventure." Schools in every state plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa received e-rate funds. Just over two-thirds of the commitments went to urban schools and libraries; 22 percent went to applicants in rural areas. Of the total $1.66 billion committed for first-year e-rate funding–through 10 separate waves of commitment letters– 76 percent of the funds went to school districts, 7 percent went to schools, and 4 percent went to libraries. Another 14 percent went to the "consortium" applicants, a category that includes statewide applications, schools and libraries applying jointly, and counties applying on behalf of all their libraries. When the total is broken down by level of discount, 60 percent went to the neediest applicants–those eligible for a discount of 80 percent or more of the cost of the telecommunications services. Fifty-four percent of the $1.66 billion went to internal connections, 40 percent went to telecommunications and dedicated access services, and 6 percent was for Internet access. Moore says the largest percentage of requested funds–64 percent–was for internal connections. But the only applicants who received e-rate commitments for internal connections were those eligible for a discount of at least 70 percent. The SLD was authorized to commit $1.925 billion, but held back $265 million, including $45 million for start-up and administrative costs. The rest was set aside for "unresolved issues that might have financial implications," Moore says. One such issue has to do with a claim filed by the Council of Chief State School Officers that questions the period of time the e-rate applies. The other has to do with the need for a contingency fund in case applicants denied funding "file appeals that turn out to have merit." A "significant portion" of first-year applicants that were not funded had requested only internal connections, says Schools and Libraries Committee Chair K.G. Ouye. She expects many of them will try again for second-year funding. Moore says successful applicants also are likely to apply again for ongoing expenses. As long as applications are received before the "window" closes on April 6, she says, applicants who already received funding in the first round will not be given a lower priority in the second round. The funding level for year 2 has not been determined. "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will set the amount based on demand," Moore says. The cap is $2.25 billion. The total amount requested for first-year funding was just over $2.4 billion. So far, Moore says, USAC has paid $5.38 million directly to service providers who will pass on the discounts to applicants that received commitment letters. Another $47.7 million was authorized to service providers to reimburse e-rate recipients for services for which they already had paid. Moore acknowledges there are some issues yet to be resolved involving "the degree of flexibility to select another provider" if a provider proves inadequate. For example, if a service provider goes out of business, the SLD would "accommodate an adjustment," she says, but "in terms of quality of service, that's a gray zone." The SLD supercedes the Schools and Libraries Corp. On Jan. 1, the SLC and the Rural Health Care Corp. merged with USAC, which now handles the administration of all telecommunications universal service programs for the FCC.
School boards need to plan for the 'hidden costs' of technologyBy Del Stover When school officials in Roswell, N.M., purchased their first computers in 1986, they knew enough to budget for such incidental costs as maintenance and staff training. Trouble was, these costs didn't stay incidental. As more computers were installed, a growing technology staff was needed to maintain the equipment and train teachers. The power demands of high-tech equipment forced an overhaul of the schools' electrical systems. Thousands of yards of wiring were installed to network computers and access the Internet. Costs for everything from network servers to printer ink soared. During the past five years, the 10,500-student district has invested at least $3 million on what technology experts once dubbed the "hidden costs" of technology–computer maintenance and support. According to Quality Education Data, a Denver-based education research firm, only 37 percent of the average school's technology expenditures go to computers, printers, and similar hardware. Training, maintenance, online services, and the like account for the rest. Payroll costs soar This fiscal reality "requires us to think a little bit differently when budgeting for these resources," says Lawrence O. Picus, associate professor and director of the Center for Research in Education Finance at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. "The purchase of hardware is a trivial part of the equation. The real issue is adequate staffing and [upkeep] for these computers." To support almost 3,000 computers and an aggressive training program for teachers, the Roswell school board now employs eight technicians and trainers. In Fairfax County, Va., officials have hired 26 new technicians in the past 18 months to stay on top of the maintenance demands of the district's 46,000 computers. And at Ohio's Gahanna-Jefferson school system, four "educational technologists" now work full-time to help teachers make use of the district's 1,500 computers. Technology Director Randy Allen says the goal is to put a technologist in each school. The growing importance of "peopleware" versus hardware reveals a fundamental shift in school technology financing, say technology experts. "The focus early on was getting enough computers out there," says Phil Davis, a technology administrator in Fairfax County. "Now, we've had to make a concerted effort to build up a support mechanism to back that growth." Such efforts constantly shift, however, as modern technology evolves with lightening speed. Ten years ago, many schools were building computer labs. Today, fiscal and technological trends are pushing districts to put desktops in classrooms and install local area networks (LANs), which link computers within a school, and wide area networks (WANs), which link schools within a district. Meanwhile, technology's increasing power demands also are prompting schools to renovate antiquated electrical systems. Roswell's electrical system was so outmoded, that the teachers in one school had to coordinate the use of electrical equipment during the day to avoid tripping a circuit breaker, says Roger Henry, the district's director of information systems. Rewiring the school to handle the power demands of computers, as well as adding LAN and WAN lines, cost $3.2 million. In some districts, upwards of 40 percent of computers are too old to carry the latest software and have outlived their warranties. The pervasiveness of technology also is sending peripheral costs skyrocketing. Linking all classrooms to the Internet is costing the Gahanna-Jefferson schools $50,000 a year in access charges. In Chattanooga, Tenn., officials were investigating the feasibility of Internet filters–used to prevent students from accessing sexually explicit material–and discovered the cost was upwards of $200,000, plus a yearly fee of $30,000. Meanwhile, schools everywhere report that paper, toner, and ink costs are soaring as students print computer-generated material by the truckload. These costs are a headache for school officials already struggling to stretch education dollars. While state, federal, and foundation grants help school boards finance the installation of computers and other technology–and the e-rate discount helps with telecommunications expenses–very little funding is available for computer maintenance and technical support. That money usually must be squeezed out of the local operating budget. Budget demands Technology doesn't always come out on top. In the mid-1990s, state technology grants provided the Gahanna-Jefferson schools with $1 million over three years to help install 1,500 computers. But when voters refused to approve the local school levy several years ago, the school board was forced to slash funds for technology operations by 50 percent. So the careful planning of school officials went out the window, Allen says. Without the money to hire an adequate maintenance staff, the backlog to repair broken computers reached three weeks at one point. The district had to postpone plans to replace aging computers and train staff. "In terms of technology, things were put on hold for years," he says. "We never threw anything away. We used equipment until it didn't work anymore." But things are looking up now. Last fall, voters agreed to restore the school levy to its original level, allowing the Gahanna-Jefferson school board to almost triple the technology budget to $500,000. That, says Allen, should allow him to hire two new maintenance technicians and boost staff training. Other school districts have had better luck bringing stability to this slice of the budget pie. The 152,000-student Fairfax County school district has carved out of its $1.18 billion budget a steady allocation of $26 million for technology. That figure is expected to rise to $49 million by the middle of the next decade. In Boise, Idaho, officials convinced voters in 1995 to approve a $3 million-a-year tax levy to fund school technology on a continuing basis. Yet even that money, along with a steady $900,000 a year in state funding for hardware and training, isn't quite enough for Jim Marconi, supervisor for educational technology in Boise. "Even though we have these resources, it's hard for our school district to meet the needs for all the supplies and other costs of support," he says. "I can't imagine what it's like in a school without a dedicated funding resource." "Technology cannot be an add-on," Picus says. It "must be an integral part of the budget. To do that, you've got to develop a three to five-year strategic plan." Long-term planning The Fairfax County school system's Strategic Technology Planning Council, consisting of district administrators, maintains a six-year plan outlining the technology needs of the instructional program, balancing growth versus costs, and setting budget projections for the school board. "I'm not sure there's anything the council couldn't anticipate," Davis says. "While it's been expensive to deploy and maintain our computers and networks, it's not like there were [costs] that jumped out at us. There were things we knew we didn't have the money to cover. A lot of times, it wasn't that certain costs were hidden to us, it was just that the needs and funding were out of sync." Some technology directors are promoting a fiscal strategy borrowed from the corporate world. Known as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), the concept calls for incorporating all future support costs into the purchase price to determine the true fiscal impact of each computer. Various surveys put that price at $2,200 to $4,000 per year per computer. The advantage of TCO is that school officials have another planning tool in determining the fiscal implications of a major influx of new technology, says Charles Stallard, director of technology for the Henrico County, Va., school system. Others suggest TCO provides a fiscal yardstick that can protect school boards from underestimating or overlooking future costs. "When you have this kind of understanding of what you're doing, maybe you can control an escalating TCO," he says. "If you wonder why training costs are so high . . . you might find you're using five different word processing packages and different hardware platforms . . . and this is compounding your training costs. What it tells you to do is simplify, to standardize your applications." In the final analysis, however, school boards must accept the reality that supporting technology is increasingly costly, technology experts say. And sometimes those costs won't be apparent right away. And when that happens, officials will have to make a hard decision about their priorities. "Technology is a useful tool," says Lee Whitcraft of Technology and Information Educational Services, a technology cooperative of 38 Minnesota school districts. "But so much support needs to go into making a teacher successful in using it. If you're not willing to do that, you should think hard about whether to buy the hardware."
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